The initiative that started as a symbolic movement at Sydney in 2007, it has bloomed into one of the world’s biggest environmental event on the Earth. The event officially called Earth Hour has become a global phenomenon celeberated by all sections of society in almost all countries of the world, irrespective of any age, community, culture, corporates and gender.

The theme for Earth Hour 2018 was “Let Nature Shine”. The topic was very relevant to the shattering phase of the nature of our planet and consistent loss of habitat. The loss of the last male white rhino in existence in 2018, vehemently raises the importance of saving the nature of our earth. Last year, apart from switching the lights off at 8:30pm on the 24th of March 2018, Earth Hour UAE organised a walk with a mission to “#connect2earth” and raised awareness about living in harmony with nature.

This year 2019 People around the world turned off their lights for an hour at 8.30pm on March 30 to mark Earth Hour.

In the UAE, Emirates Nature had partnered with the WWF, who organise Earth Hour, to "start changing the planet for the better".

The event aims to encourage people to "refuse, reduce, recycle", "use less single-use plastic" and "avoid red meat".

Beyond raising awareness around the environment, Earth Hour reinforces the need for the governments to introduce environmentally friendly laws.

Dozens of events took place in the country, across Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah and Sharjah.

In Dubai, Earth Hour was organised by DEWA in partnership with volunteering and environmental organisations such as EEG.

This Year EEG introduced “#paperwalk” campaign. Nearly 500 student and corporate members were asked to bring a certain amount of paper to EEG’s stand. I also actively participated in the event and submitted around 50 kg of waste papers to EEG. Through this campaign EEG calculated statistics of the amount of carbon we reduced and the trees we saved when the collected wastepaper would be recycled. Finally as per the theme of nature and forests, EEG also planned a small activity for the visiting participants. We had to make a colourful paper origami birds.

I have been participating in Earth Hour event since past few years. Every year I am mesmerized by the enthusiasm of the participants and the meticulously planned activities by the Organisers. The “Earth Hour” event has successfully  spread its environmental message of saving energy through small but significant gestures all across the societies.